Two quotes on the desk, an order of magnitude apart, and a finance director who wants to know why.
The difference is not really about paint. Recoating cladding is a maintenance cost. Replacing it is a capital project — different budget, different timescale, different level of sign-off. On a building whose panels are still sound, that is usually what settles it.
The short answer
- The panels are sound and only the finish has failed — faded, chalking, flaking, or the wrong colour after a rebrand. Recoating is almost always the right call.
- The fabric has failed — perforated sheets, wet insulation, failed fixings, movement, water coming through the panel rather than past the paint. Coating will not fix that, and no honest contractor will tell you it will.
- Most buildings are a mix. A handful of failed panels replaced and the sound majority recoated to match is frequently the cheapest correct answer. Ask for it to be priced that way.
Cladding spraying vs replacement, side by side
| Cladding spraying (recoating) | Full replacement (recladding) | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | Cleaned, degreased, loose coating removed, corrosion treated, then primed and sprayed where they stand | Existing panels stripped out and skipped, a new system fixed in their place |
| Typical spend | £15,000–£80,000 for a commercial cladding project | £150–£300+ per m² |
| Budget line | Maintenance / planned repairs | Capital |
| Programme | Weeks | Months |
| Your building during works | Open and in use | Elevations closed off, sometimes a decant |
| Who signs it off | Usually a facilities or estates budget holder | Board or capital committee, often planning and building control as well |
| Access | Powered access, phased elevation by elevation | Scaffold or mast climbers, temporary weather protection |
| Existing panels | Kept, treated, recoated | Removed and sent to waste |
| What is guaranteed | Coating system guarantee up to 20 years | Manufacturer and installer warranties — check what each actually covers |
| What it fixes | Appearance, surface corrosion, weather protection of a sound envelope | Failed panels, failed insulation, failed fixings, a required change in thermal performance |
How do the costs actually compare?
Replacement is priced by area: £150 to £300+ per square metre, before access, waste and programme.
Put a real building against that. The workshop cladding on our CarShop project in Wolverhampton measured 795m² — one mid-sized commercial elevation, not a landmark. Replacing that area alone comes to roughly £119,000 to £239,000+.
USP’s commercial cladding spraying projects run £15,000 to £80,000 for the whole job. What moves the number: area, condition of the existing coating, how much cut edge corrosion needs treating, access and height, and whether the work runs out of hours.
You will also find pages quoting savings of 30%, 60% or 80%. They cannot all be right, and none of them has seen your building. Measure your area, price both options against it, ignore the percentages.
Which budget does it come out of — and what about dilapidations?
For an owner-occupier the classification is most of the argument. Recoating is maintenance spend against an asset you already hold. Replacement is capital expenditure that has to be justified, depreciated and approved a level or two above the person reading this.
On a leasehold building it matters more, not less. Repair and redecoration obligations sit in most commercial leases, and a schedule of dilapidations is argued over the cost of putting right rather than the cost of replacing. Discharging a repairing covenant with a recoat, at a fraction of a recladding figure, is a strong position — worth having your surveyor confirm which obligation the works satisfy before anything is specified.
How much disruption does each option cause?
Replacing cladding means opening up the building envelope. Scaffold or mast climbers, temporary weather protection, plant on site, elevations out of use for weeks, and tenants who may have to be relocated, notified or compensated.
Recoating happens from powered access with the building still trading. Work zones are sheeted, coatings are low odour, and access and permits are agreed with your facilities team first. Where a programme has to be short, more sprayers go on it — at Marden Edwards in Dorset the client allowed two months for a full exterior cladding repaint, and it was finished in one week.
Whatever a day of disrupted trading is worth in your building, put a number on it and add it to the replacement column. It is the line replacement quotes leave out, and on an occupied asset it is rarely small.
How long will a sprayed finish last?
Treat lifespan claims carefully in both directions. Nobody can give you the exact service life of a coating without seeing the substrate, the exposure and what is already on the panels.
What can be put in writing is the guarantee. USP’s coating systems carry a guarantee of up to 20 years, confirmed at survey once substrate and specification are known. That is the figure for a business case, because it is contractual rather than estimated.
Replacement does not remove maintenance from the budget either — it resets it. A new panel’s factory finish is itself a coating, and it will weather like one.
When is replacement the right call?
An article that says “always recoat” is a sales pitch. These are the conditions where coating is the wrong specification:
- Perforated sheets. Once cut edge corrosion has eaten through the lap and there is daylight through the steel, you are coating a hole.
- Wet or failed insulation in composite panels — bulging, delamination, staining at the joints. A surface coating seals nothing behind the face.
- Failed fixings or supporting rails. Panels that move, drum or lift in wind are a structural problem, not a finish problem.
- Water ingress through the panel or the joint rather than past a failed finish. Coating a leak gives you a tidier leak.
- A required change in thermal performance. You cannot coat a U-value into a wall.
- Reconfiguration — new openings, an extension, a change of use where the envelope has to change anyway.
Our position on the cladding spraying page is the same one we take at survey: if a unit has blown or a frame is failing, spraying is the wrong answer and we will tell you so.
How do you tell which one your building needs?
Five checks you can make yourself, before anyone quotes:
- Press the panels. Sound and firm, or soft and drummy?
- Look at the cut edges and laps. Surface rust that will grind back, or perforation you can see through?
- Check composite joints for bulging, delamination or staining. Single-skin profiled steel fails at the cut edges; composite panels fail at the joints and from the inside out. Different inspections.
- Separate finish from fabric. Fading, chalking, flaking and colour loss are finish problems. Holes, gaps, movement and leaks are fabric problems.
- Ask the building. Is anything actually getting wet inside?
Finish problems point to coating. Fabric problems point to replacement — of the failed area at least, and occasionally of the lot.
If you would rather not make that call yourself, USP’s site visit is free and comes with a written cladding analysis report: substrate, condition, recommended specification and a fixed-price quote. If the report says replace, it says replace.
What a finance director will ask you for
Five lines to have ready before the meeting:
- Both options costed against the same measured area, with the budget each falls under — maintenance or capital.
- Programme in weeks, and days of disrupted trading under each.
- The guarantee term, and precisely what it covers.
- Accreditations and cover for whoever is on site. USP is CHAS accredited with CSCS-carded operatives, IPAF, PASMA and CITB registration, and £10 million public liability insurance.
- What is excluded from each price — roofs, rainwater goods, shutters, window frames, structural steelwork.
Cladding spraying vs replacement: FAQs
Is spraying just painting over the problem?
No — and where it would be, we say so. Recoating is a treatment for a sound envelope: chemical clean and degrease, removal of loose and failed coating, corrosion treatment, primer, then base and top coats. It is not a repair for a failed panel and is not sold as one.
How much cheaper is spraying than replacing?
There is no single multiple, and anyone quoting one has not seen your building. Price USP’s £15,000–£80,000 project range against replacement at £150–£300+ per square metre across your measured area.
Do we have to close the building?
No. Night shifts, weekend working and phased elevation closures keep sites trading throughout. Most of our work is on occupied buildings.
What happens when the coating reaches the end of its life?
A sound panel with a sound coating can be recoated again — that is most of what we do. Recoating now does not make replacement later any harder.
Can cladding be partly replaced and partly sprayed?
Yes, and it is often the sensible answer. Replace what has genuinely failed, recoat the rest to a matched colour, and the two blend.
Find out which one your building needs
Book a free site visit and USP will tell you in writing whether your cladding should be coated or replaced — with a fixed-price quote if coating is the right answer.
Commercial cladding spraying → · Call 01134 364 364
